It Looks Like the Debt-Limit Stall Will Pass, and Last Until May 19

After the House passed it and Harry Reid vowed to introduce it in the Senate, the controversial bill's passage now seems inevitable. Too bad, then, that it doesn't offer a permanent solution to our perpetual debt-ceiling crisis.

Update, 1:24: The House of Representatives has passed a resolution on suspending the debt limit until May 19 by a vote of what appeared to be 285-144.

Original post: The Senate plans to vote on the debt-ceiling bill introduced in the House, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters at midday today. The bill's passage now seems inevitable, given the endorsement of President Obama (voiced by Press Secretary Jay Carney on Wednesday), the support of House Republicans (including an array of conservative stalwarts), and the strange mechanisms of the bill relies on.

Basically, the bill doesn't technically raise the debt ceiling — hence the odd bravado worn by the GOP — but instead suspends the enforcement of the debt ceiling until May 19, when we can now expect a battle similar to the past week's. (The last time the country elected to ignore its debt ceiling without raising it was for an actual battle: the Second World War.) That's how the bill satisfies the House, the Senate, and the President without offering a permanent solution to the debt ceiling — an outcome so frustrating that some (like Ezra Klein & Co.) are suggestingwe abolish the ceiling for good.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

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